The Mellotron Group

I think the gist of all this is simple. The new sounds don't sound like the 
 old sounds. Because they aren't. They still get "Mellotronized," each in 
their  own way, and distinct from machine to machine.
There. That sums it all up and nothing more needs to be said. That is the  
definitive summary that will satisfy everyone so we're done with it. 
 
Frank
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 11/7/2010 12:31:11 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
rick@rickblechta.com writes:

 
 
 
I think a lot of this discussion is based around the current list's owners' 
 nostalgia for their youth. "I want to relive the glory years of prog rock 
when  I couldn't afford one of these things!" Now we have the money to 
indulge  ourselves in the same way that a 50-year-old goes out and buys an old 
Jaguar.  I personally would be bored musically with 3-violins, brass, choir 
and cello  (which were the most popular sounds way back when. To say that the 
"Orchestra"  sound is made up of old components, and then blow it off for 
that reason is  completely missing the point. Les did something wonderful when 
he put it  together. To be fair, I love playing "Watcher of the Skies" as 
much as the  next old fart.  
 


The reason the old library of sounds is so dodgy is that they were  
recorded badly by people who weren't adept musicians (the people recording,  not 
the people playing, necessarily). That brass sound is ridiculous if you  break 
it down into its 3 discreet com ponents -- which is how it was recorded.  
That's its downfall (but also its charm). Lots of horn bands use trumpet,  
trombone and tenor sax. Do they sound like the MkII brass? Of course not. If  
Les and the guys had recorded these three instruments playing together at 
the  same time, the results would have been far different (and probably a lot 
more  in tune!).


My reasons for recording new sounds was primarily to make some new ones  
available (bass clarinet, bari sax, bass flute, etc) but also to fix up some  
of the bad ones that I really wanted to use but couldn't (French horn, oboe, 
 clarinet). The reason many of these new ones don't "sound like a 
mellotron" is  because of our list members' expectations still being mired in the 
past.


What's the median age of the members of the list? I'll bet it's mid-50s.  
Of course there's a natural urge to hang onto our youth. I'd like to give a  
few M4000s to some good, creative young bands and see what they could come 
up  with since they're (hopefully) not mired in the '70s. I think we'd all be 
 surprised with what they'd come up with. Would we think it sounds like a  
mellotron? Perhaps yes, perhaps no -- but they would. Actually,  that's what 
Streetly is doing and there have been some excellent  results.


Is anyone here aware of the fact that the precursor to the mellotron was  
the pipe organ? Take a look at what many of the ranks on them are called:  
oboe, clarinet, flute, trumpet, etc. In trying to make an instrument that  
could imitate these instruments, organ makers came up with a wholly new  
instrument that sort of sounded like them. I've heard mellotrons  described as 
tape transport organs, and that is what they are. I still  maintain that any 
instrument recording put on an 8-second piece of tape and  mounted on a 
mellotron will sort of sound like that instrument, but in  going through the 
instrument, it will become so mething different. Vive la  difference! Those who 
say the new voices don't sound like a mellotron haven't  played them.


Rick